Rondo's Drives To The Basket Swallowed Up By Heat Defense

One of the key things that Doc Rivers stresses to Rajon Rondo is to be aggressive and attack the basket. He tried last night but was off the mark on 9 of his layup attempts (8 of 20 overall).

Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics fall to Miami Heat in Game 1 - Ian Thomsen - SI.com

Ray Allen and Paul Pierce are both playing through injuries and altogether went 6-of-25 from the field, which left Rondo with no threatening option apart from Kevin Garnett and his 23 points (on 16 shots) to go with 10 rebounds. For lack of any better choices, Rondo repeatedly drove the lane like a surfer vanishing under a wave. The Heat lack size in the absence of Chris Bosh, but they compensated with aggressive energy. By the time Rondo was near the basket he would find himself having to toss up impossibly spun layups that looked more difficult than the long three-pointer he made two nights earlier to finish off Game 7 against the 76ers.

I think Rondo needs to keep attacking the basket, but the other Celtics need to hit their shots to give Rondo a little more breathing room.